Drought risk assessment in the western part of Bangladesh

Though drought is a recurrent phenomenon in Bangladesh, very little attention has been so far paid to the mitigation and preparedness of droughts. This article presents a method for spatial assessment of drought risk in Bangladesh. A conceptual framework, which emphasizes the combined role of hazard and vulnerability in defining risk, is used for the study. Standardized precipitation index method in a GIS environment is used to map the spatial extents of drought hazards in different time steps. The key social and physical factors that define drought vulnerability in the context of Bangladesh are identified and corresponding thematic maps in district level are prepared. Composite drought vulnerability map is developed through the integration of those thematic maps. The risk is computed as the product of the hazard and vulnerability. The result shows that droughts pose highest risk to the northern and northwestern districts of Bangladesh.     

Water-deficit-based drought risk assessments in Taiwan

Taiwan is located in Western Pacific and receives approximate 2,500?mm rainfall per year. Suffered from inadequate water supply during prolonged and severe droughts, assessing drought risk becomes one of the key tasks of water-resources planning and management in Taiwan. Well-prepared drought mitigation measures require assimilation of physical environment of droughts and human socioeconomic factors. An index-based approach is presented in this study to evaluate drought risk at municipal scale in Taiwan for current status (2008) as well as future scenarios (2021). A multiplicative formula links drought hazard (frequency, duration, and severity of droughts), drought exposure (water use), and drought vulnerability (unreliable water supply) to determine drought risk. This approach quantifies the spatial distribution of drought risk and is able to deal with future changes of water use and water-supply source and to examine their influences on drought risk assessments. The results reveal that the regions that are at great risk in the future are those regions already threaten by drought currently. Changes of future water use and water-supply source would not significantly alter spatial distribution of drought risk and ranking order among regions. These results present a basis for future water-resources planning and economic developments for each municipal region.     

Influence of droughts on remote villages in the karst region of Guizhou Province,China: Causes and control

Even though the precipitation is abundant in the Karst region of Guizhou Province, remote villages in this area frequently suffer severe droughts. This paper studied the causes of droughts in this region through field investigation and references collection. Based on the cause analysis, some suggestions were provided for hazard prevention and control from an engineering perspective. Besides occasional extreme weathers, the drought in this area is primarily caused by its unique geological structures of Karst plateau and underdeveloped agricultural techniques. Meanwhile, the vicious cycle between drought and poverty, which causes the deficiency of water conservancy facilities and hazard prevention awareness, is an important reason for the frequent occurrence of agricultural and socioeconomic drought. Considering the social and economic conditions of remote villages, the long-term control of drought can only be realized if current measures are capable of bring immediate effects and benefits. Therefore, the construction of well-planned and designed water conservancy system based on each village’s natural and social conditions are the priority for current hazard prevention. Generally, the exploitation of subterranean river should be considered as the first choice to stabilize the water supply for remote villages. Meanwhile, the construction and improvement of micro water conservancy facilities, such as small water tank, small pond and so on, can effectively support the water providence during droughts as well.     

Spatiotemporal variation of meteorological droughts based on the daily comprehensive drought index in the Haihe River basin,China

Meteorological droughts can affect large areas and may have serious environmental, social and economic impacts. These impacts depend on the severity, duration, and spatial extent of the precipitation deficit and the socioeconomic vulnerability of the affected regions. This paper examines the spatiotemporal variation of meteorological droughts in the Haihe River basin. Meteorological droughts events were diagnosed using daily meteorological data from 44 stations by calculating a comprehensive drought index (CI) for the period 1961–2011. Based on the daily CI values of each station over the past 50 years, the drought processes at each station were confirmed, and the severity, duration and frequency of each meteorological drought event were computed and analyzed. The results suggest the following conclusions: (1) the use of the CI index can effectively trace the development of drought and can also identify the duration and severity of each drought event; (2) the average drought duration was 57–85 days in each region of the Haihe River basin, and the region with the highest average values of drought duration and drought severity was Bohai Bay; (3) drought occurred more than 48 times over the study period, which is more than 0.95 times per year over the 50 years studied. The average frequencies of non-drought days, severe drought days and extreme drought days over the study period were 51.2, 3.2 and 0.4 %, respectively. Severe drought events mainly occurred in the south branch of the Hai River, and extreme drought events mainly occurred in the Shandong Peninsula and Bohai Bay; (4) the annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration of the Haihe River basin show decreasing trends over the past 50 years. The frequency of severe drought and extreme drought events has increased in the past 20 years than during the period 1961–1990. The results of this study may serve as a reference point for decision regarding basin water resources management, ecological recovery and drought hazard vulnerability analysis.

     

Spatiotemporal variation of meteorological droughts based on the daily comprehensive drought index in the Haihe River basin,China

Meteorological droughts can affect large areas and may have serious environmental, social and economic impacts. These impacts depend on the severity, duration, and spatial extent of the precipitation deficit and the socioeconomic vulnerability of the affected regions. This paper examines the spatiotemporal variation of meteorological droughts in the Haihe River basin. Meteorological droughts events were diagnosed using daily meteorological data from 44 stations by calculating a comprehensive drought index (CI) for the period 1961–2011. Based on the daily CI values of each station over the past 50 years, the drought processes at each station were confirmed, and the severity, duration and frequency of each meteorological drought event were computed and analyzed. The results suggest the following conclusions: (1) the use of the CI index can effectively trace the development of drought and can also identify the duration and severity of each drought event; (2) the average drought duration was 57–85 days in each region of the Haihe River basin, and the region with the highest average values of drought duration and drought severity was Bohai Bay; (3) drought occurred more than 48 times over the study period, which is more than 0.95 times per year over the 50 years studied. The average frequencies of non-drought days, severe drought days and extreme drought days over the study period were 51.2, 3.2 and 0.4 %, respectively. Severe drought events mainly occurred in the south branch of the Hai River, and extreme drought events mainly occurred in the Shandong Peninsula and Bohai Bay; (4) the annual precipitation and potential evapotranspiration of the Haihe River basin show decreasing trends over the past 50 years. The frequency of severe drought and extreme drought events has increased in the past 20 years than during the period 1961–1990. The results of this study may serve as a reference point for decision regarding basin water resources management, ecological recovery and drought hazard vulnerability analysis.     

Drought risk assessment using remote sensing and GIS techniques

Beginning with a discussion of drought definitions, this review paper attempts to provide a review of fundamental concepts of drought, classification of droughts, drought indices, and the role of remote sensing and geographic information systems for drought evaluation. Owing to the rise in water demand and looming climate change, recent years have witnessed much focus on global drought scenarios. As a natural hazard, drought is best characterized by multiple climatological and hydrological parameters. An understanding of the relationships between these two sets of parameters is necessary to develop measures for mitigating the impacts of droughts. Droughts are recognized as an environmental disaster and have attracted the attention of environmentalists, ecologists, hydrologists, meteorologists, geologists, and agricultural scientists. Temperatures; high winds; low relative humidity; and timing and characteristics of rains, including distribution of rainy days during crop growing seasons, intensity, and duration of rain, and onset and termination, play a significant role in the occurrence of droughts. In contrast to aridity, which is a permanent feature of climate and is restricted to low rainfall areas, a drought is a temporary aberration. Often, there is confusion between a heat wave and a drought, and the distinction is emphasized between heat wave and drought, noting that a typical time scale associated with a heat wave is on the order of a week, while a drought may persist for months or even years. The combination of a heat wave and a drought has dire socio-economic consequences. Drought risk is a product of a region’s exposure to the natural hazard and its vulnerability to extended periods of water shortage. If nations and regions are to make progress in reducing the serious consequences of drought, they must improve their understanding of the hazard and the factors that influence vulnerability. It is critical for drought-prone regions to better understand their drought climatology (i.e., the probability of drought at different levels of intensity and duration) and establish comprehensive and integrated drought information system that incorporates climate, soil, and water supply factors such as precipitation, temperature, soil moisture, snow pack, reservoir and lake levels, ground water levels, and stream flow. All drought-prone nations should develop national drought policies and preparedness plans that place emphasis on risk management rather than following the traditional approach of crisis management, where the emphasis is on reactive, emergency response measures. Crisis management decreases self-reliance and increases dependence on government and donors.     

Spatiotemporal variability of meteorological droughts in southeastern USA

Droughts in the southeast USA have been linked to economic losses and intractable water conflicts. The region has witnessed several severe droughts events during the period from 1901 to 2005. In this study, spatiotemporal variability in meteorological drought characteristics in the southeast were analyzed using two different datasets by the means of standard precipitation index and standard precipitation evapotranspiration index for the period 1901–2005 for agricultural and non-agricultural seasons. The study periods were divided into three epochs 1901–1935, 1936–1970, and 1971–2005 and drought characteristics, in terms of severity, frequency, number, and trends were analyzed. Additionally, areal extent, drought severities and return periods associated with three severe drought years 1904, 1954, and 2000 were analyzed. Except for the state of Florida, results indicate decrease in drought severity during the recent epoch of 1970–2005 in the study domain. Trend analysis confirms that the study domain has become wetter over the last 105 years. Wetting trends were more prominent in the agricultural season. Additionally, droughts seem to have migrated from the western part of the study area encompassing the states of Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Mississippi to the Florida panhandle region during the recent epoch. Droughts exhibited higher spatiotemporal variability during the agricultural season compared to the non-agricultural seasons. Results also showed that early to mid-1950s experienced some of the most severe droughts in the study domain. Some of the drought events, such as the drought of 1954 and 2000, have been equivalent to a 100-year drought event in the southeast. The results from this study form the benchmark for studying the impacts of future climate change projections on meteorological droughts in the southeast.     

Spatio-temporal distributions of climate disasters and the response of wheat yields in China from 1983 to 2008

Climate disasters are now on the rise and more likely to increase in frequency and/or severity under climate change in the future. To clearly illustrate spatial–temporal distributions of climate disasters and the response of wheat yields to disasters over the past three decades, several disaster indices including the impact of climate disasters, the sensitivity to climate disasters and the response index of wheat yield losses to climate disasters were defined and calculated. The impact and sensitivity indices were examined by the agricultural production losses due to climate disasters, and the response of wheat yields to climate disasters was assessed by wheat yield loss compared with the 5-year moving average. The results showed that the indices of climate disaster impacts and sensitivities as well as response index of wheat yields to climate disasters could represent the spatial–temporal distributions of climate disasters well in the whole China. Droughts in northern China had higher impacts and sensitivities than those in southern China during the period 1983–2008, but the impacts of floods were opposite. In northern China, although impacted area by drought was larger than that by flood, the flood sensitivities were larger than drought sensitivities when flood happened. Although drought significantly affected wheat yields in most of the regions with drier conditions during 1983–2008 in major wheat-producing regions, better management practices like irrigation and drought-tolerant cultivars applied in the Huang-Huai-Hai Plain can adapt to climate disasters especially droughts. To ensure the stability of agricultural production, future food security will need to be achieved through quantifying the relative effects of climate disasters and effective adaptation to increasingly frequent extreme climate events.     

利用DRASTIC指标体系评价安徽省淮北平原浅层地下水脆弱性

依据美国DRASTIC指标体系的基本框架,充分吸收欧洲及国内有关地区的研究成果,结合安徽省淮北平原的实际情况,以MAPGIS和ACCESS为平台,评价了浅层地下水的脆弱性。在评价指标选择、指标等级评分和指数分级等方面进行了探索,使之更符合淮北平原的实际情况,更具操作性,为今后开展全省地下水脆弱性评价积累了经验。     

Agricultural drought risk analysis based on three main crops in prefecture-level cities in the monsoon region of east China

Drought, a frequent environmental disaster in the monsoon region of east China, significantly affects the agricultural economy. In recent years, researchers have emphasised drought risk management. This paper presents a preliminary method to analyse the risk of agricultural drought with regard to the loss of three main crops in individual prefecture-level cities in the monsoon region of east China. In this study, the agricultural drought risk is assessed by developing the index of consecutive rainless days and establishing loss rate curves based on the historical drought data from 1995 to 2008. The results show that the North China is seriously affected by drought hazard. Northeast China is the most sensitive to drought due to its large sown crop areas and weak irrigation. Approximately 11 % of the cities are in the extreme risk category; this category includes 26 % of the cultivated land area and 11 % of the total crop yields in the region. Twenty-three per cent of the cities, accounting for 28.5 % of the total cultivated land area and 26.4 % of the crop yields of the study area, are in high-risk areas, and 77 % of the cities with high and extreme risk levels are distributed in North and Northeast China. Moreover, 64 % of the cities in the monsoon region of East China are in moderate- and low-risk levels. These cities are primarily located south of the Yangtze River. In conclusion, minimising the risk of agricultural drought must be emphasised in northern China because of the high level of risk.     

A comparative frequency analysis of three standardized drought indices in the Poyang Lake basin,China

Regional drought frequency analysis was carried out in the Poyang Lake basin (PLB) from 1960–2014 based on three standardized drought indices: the standardized precipitation index (SPI), the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and the standardized Palmer drought index (SPDI). Drought events and characteristics were extracted. A Gumbel–Hougaard (GH) copula was selected to construct the bivariate probability distribution of drought duration and severity, and the joint return periods (T _a ) were calculated. Results showed that there were 50 (50 and 40) drought events in the past 55 years based on the SPI (SPEI and SPDI), and 9 (8 and 10) of them were severe with T _a more than 10 years, occurred in the 1960s, the 1970s and the 2000s. Overall, the three drought indices could detect the onset of droughts and performed similarly with regard to drought identification. However, for the SPDI, moisture scarcity was less frequent, but it showed more severe droughts with substantially higher severity and longer duration droughts. The conditional return period (Ts|d) was calculated for the spring drought in 2011, and it was 66a and 54a, respectively, based on the SPI and SPDI, which was consistent with the record. Overall, the SPI, only considering the precipitation, can as effectively as the SPEI and SPDI identify the drought process over the PLB under the present changing climate. However, drought is affected by climate and land-cover changes; thus, it is necessary to integrate the results of drought frequency analysis based on different drought indices to improve the drought risk management.     

Drought impacts on long-term hydrodynamic behavior of groundwater in the tertiary–quaternary aquifer system of Shahrekord Plain, Iran

Shortage of water resources in arid and semi-arid areas causes water supply to be one of the most important subjects and major concerns within NGO and governments’ policies in recent years. The Shahrekord Plain aquifer system is located in a semi-arid area and acts as a key source of water supply. Groundwater management in this area is thus very important. Although change in the climatological factors is not possible, long-term fluctuation studies can help in managing the available water resources to overcome from drought or decrease its negative impact. The hydrodynamic study of the aquifer system coupled with the drought indices in each region can be useful in making decisions related to the hydro-ecosystem management of that region. In this article, hydrodynamics of the aquifer system of the Shahrekord Plain coupled with the ratio of P/PET as a drought index, are assessed on the long term. In Shahrekord Plain aquifer, there is a short-term seasonal fluctuation, which is increased by overexploitation during the dry season, when water is needed for irrigation. The hydrodynamic behavior of the plain aquifer on the long term is changing. This fluctuation at first is a function of time. Secondly, it is spatially dependent. Groundwater behavior is directly sensitive to the variation of drought index, both seasonally and on the long term.     

气候变化背景下海河流域干旱特征及趋势

为了深入研究近60年来多种气候、水文要素对海河流域干旱变化的影响,采用Mann-Kendall非参数检验法对流域内气温、降水、径流等要素进行了分析,并采用Z指数法对流域的干旱特征进行了研究。结果表明：20世纪50年代以来,海河流域经历了湿润-正常-干旱的变化过程;21世纪初,流域北部地区出现偏旱现象,多次干旱的面积覆盖率低于40%,少部分干旱覆盖率较高,最高达98%;从时间上看,1980年是发生干旱现象的一个临界点,无论是从发生次数还是覆盖面积上,1980年以后要明显大于1980年以前。从干旱发生频率上分析,海河流域发生轻度和一般干旱的高频地区多分布在滦河流域以及北部山区,中部平原地区干旱爆发频率相对较低,重大干旱事件则在中南部平原地区发生频率更高。综合全部干旱事件,滦河流域为干旱频发区,其次为海河流域东部地区,西部地区则频率相对较低。     

Assessment of regional drought vulnerability and risk using principal component analysis and a Gaussian mixture model

Due to the complex characteristics of drought, drought risk needs to be quantified by combining drought vulnerability and drought hazard. Recently, the major focus in drought vulnerability has been on how to calculate the weights of indicators to comprehensively quantify drought risk. In this study, principal component analysis (PCA), a Gaussian mixture model (GMM), and the equal-weighting method (EWM) were applied to objectively determine the weights for drought vulnerability assessment in Chungcheong Province, located in the west-central part of South Korea. The PCA provided larger weights for agricultural and industrial factors, whereas the GMM computed larger weights for agricultural factors than did the EWM. The drought risk was assessed by combining the drought vulnerability index (DVI) and the drought hazard index (DHI). Based on the DVI, the most vulnerable region was CCN9 in the northwestern part of the province, whereas the most drought-prone region based on the DHI was CCN12 in the southwest. Considering both DVI and DHI, the regions with the highest risk were CCN12 and CCN10 in the southern part of the province. Using the proposed PCA and GMM, we validated drought vulnerability using objective weighting methods and assessed comprehensive drought risk considering both meteorological hazard and socioeconomic vulnerability.

     

近30年雷州半岛季节性气象干旱时空特征

为进一步分析日尺度有效干旱指数(Effective Drought Index,EDI)的适应性,基于雷州半岛1984~2013年逐日降水资料进行验证,对比EDI和月尺度标准化降水指数(Standardized Precipitation Index,SPI)的干旱识别效果,进而结合线性趋势、M-K趋势检验和空间插值方法 ,分析雷州半岛季节性气象干旱时空特征。结果表明:(1)日尺度EDI和6个月时间尺度SPI(SPI-6)适用于雷州半岛的干旱监测,但EDI对严重干旱和突发干旱的识别比SPI-6更准确;(2)1984~2013年,雷州半岛秋冬季干旱频率和干旱站次比均呈减少趋势,但春夏季干旱频率和干旱站次比略有增加趋势;(3)春旱频率从南向北递增,重旱高频地区位于西北部,而夏季重旱高频区位于西部沿海;秋旱南部重于北部,高频中心在雷中西部沿海和曾家周边;冬季重旱以西部沿海、雷州市和徐闻县交界处频率最高。     

40a来中国旱灾对ENSO事件的区域差异响应研究

利用中国各地区1949—1990年间旱灾的受灾面积比和成灾面积比,分别与ENSO指数进行相关分析.结果发现:ENSO指数与各地的旱灾事件有着一定的反相关关系,表明ENSO的发生对我国大部分地区有着显著的影响,特别是对华北、东北、华南、内蒙古和新疆等地区的相关性具有很好的显著水平.通过对比各个分区对ENSO事件的响应程度,分析了其空间差异性.ENSO指数的变化与中国各地的旱灾有密切的联系,全球升温通过影响ENSO事件而影响中国的旱灾面积:全球升温影响下,ENSO指数升高,旱灾减少.     

Evaluation of CHIRPS and its application for drought monitoring over the Haihe River Basin,China

To establish the drought index objectively and reasonably and evaluate the hydrological drought accurately, firstly, the optimal distribution was selected from nine distributions (normal, lognormal, exponential, gamma, general extreme value, inverse Gaussian, logistic, log-logistic and Weibull), then the Optimal Standardized Streamflow Index (OSSI) was calculated based on the optimal distribution, and last, the spatiotemporal evolution of hydrological drought based on the OSSI series was investigated through the monthly streamflow data of seven hydrological stations during the period 1961–2011 in Luanhe River basin, China. Results suggest: (1) the general extreme value and log-logistic distributions performed prominently in fitting the monthly streamflow of Luanhe River basin. (2) The main periods of hydrological drought in Luanhe River basin were 148–169, 75–80, 42–45, 14–19 and 8–9 months. (3) The hydrological drought had an aggravating trend over the past 51 year and with the increase in timescale, the aggravating trend was more serious. (4) The lower the drought grade was, the broader the coverage area. As for the Luanhe River basin, the whole basin suffered the mild and more serious drought, while the severe and more serious drought only cover some areas. (5) With the increase in time step, the frequency distribution of mild droughts across the basin tended to be concentrated, the frequency of extreme droughts in middle and upper reaches tended to increase and the frequency in downstream tends to decrease. This research can provide powerful references for water resources planning and management and drought mitigation.     

Analysis of drought hazards in North China: distribution and interpretation

This paper examines the characteristics of historical meteorological hazards and associated natural-anthropogenic variations in China, with specific attention given to the meteorological drought hazards occurring at very high frequency and affecting social?Ceconomic development in North China. Owing to an increasing awareness of meteorological droughts in this area, the aim of this contribution is to provide a comprehensive overview of meteorological droughts in North China by reviewing the meteorological references and their intrinsic linkages with climatic, geological, and anthropogenic controls. Our study highlights the region-wide meteorological droughts with a rather clear recurrence of 30 and 100?years, totally indicating Shanxi and Shandong being the predominated area suffering from extreme meteorological droughts. The spatial and temporal distribution of meteorological drought hazards in this region is considered to be a function of climatic, topographic, hydrological, and anthropogenic characteristics. In view of the wide distribution and linkage with geo-hazards and changes of dynasties, the meteorological drought hazard is one of the key issues for long-term social?Ceconomic harmonization. This study can be expected to prioritize drought mitigation measures and ensure regional sustainable development in North China.     

1961年以来海河流域干旱时空变化特征分析

以干旱易发区海河流域为例,利用流域内及其周边地区58个气象站点1961-2010年逐日气象观测数据,结合累积相对湿润度指数和模糊集对评价法,考虑了干旱的累积效应以及评价标准等级边界的模糊性和评价因子的时程分配,分析了海河流域干旱时空变化特征。结果表明:①近50年来流域主要干旱类型为中旱和重旱,平均面积分别约为7.30万km2和7.78万km2,重旱面积呈现出显著的增加趋势;②近25年来,重旱易发区范围表现出扩张的态势,1985-2010年重旱易发区面积达到14.9万km2,为1961-1985年的1.6倍。     

中国东北平原西部荒漠化现状、成因及其治理途径研究

中国东北平原西部土地荒漠化,主要表现为土地沙漠化和土地盐碱化,它属于荒漠化的两种类型。东北 平原西部分布着科尔沁沙地和松嫩沙地,前者是全国五大沙漠之一。文章全面、系统地对该地区编制了 1∶1000000荒漠化图和量算出土地沙漠化面积。东北平原西部土地沙漠化面积为72280.6km²,占土地总面积的 22.2%。自20世纪50年代至80年代末,土地沙漠化面积迅速扩大,平均每年以1.5%～3.7%的速度递增;自9 年代以来,沙漠化呈现出逆转趋势,但就总体而言,沙漠化发展仍然大于逆转。东北平原西部土地盐碱化面积 33850.79km²,占土地总面积10.44%,主要分布在松嫩平原,面积为23329.19km²,占土地总面积15.2%,它是世 界上苏打盐碱化土壤的三大片之一,土地盐碱化每年以1.4%～2.5%速率正在发展。所以,该地区的土地荒漠化 不仅制约着当地农、牧业和农村经济的发展,影响周围和毗邻国家的生态环境安全,而且已危及当地人民的生存。 东北平原西部荒漠化的形成有自然因素和人为因素,前者有物源和气候变化等原因,后者有草原超载过牧、滥 垦、滥伐滥櫵、乱挖,河流上中游修建水库等原因,以及冻融作用的特殊原因,致使荒漠化形成和发展。文章总结了 该地区沙漠化正、逆过程的演变,并提出荒漠化的治理应根据荒漠化